


Pandora's Box

by Destiny_Of_A_Dragon



Series: Work In Progress [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Addiction, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Asexual Remus Lupin, Blackmail, Cliche done new, Dark Golden Trio, Dark Harry, Demon Harry, Denial of Feelings, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, Forced Marriage, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Graphic Description, Harry Potter is a Horcrux, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Infidelity, Insanity, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Master of Death Harry Potter, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Minor Character Death, Molly Weasley Bashing, Mpreg, Muggles, Neko Harry, Power Bottom Harry, Rough Oral Sex, Shameless Smut, Smart Harry, Soulmates, Time Travel Fix-It, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Torture, Trope Subversion/Inversion, Voldemort cannot feel love, i hope ;-;
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:02:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25335079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiny_Of_A_Dragon/pseuds/Destiny_Of_A_Dragon
Summary: Pandora’s box. A device created to summon the soul of a person from the height of their life. At their strongest, at their smartest, and at their wisest.Dumbledore uses it on Harry. He couldn’t have known how much of a mistake that would be.———'Work In Progress’ Series: Updates to any in this series will likely be sporadic and take a long time.
Relationships: Daphne Greengrass/Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Hermione Granger/Severus Snape, Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Sirius Black/Lucius Malfoy
Series: Work In Progress [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827226
Comments: 44
Kudos: 603





	1. Chapter 1

Harry shuffled along behind his friends in misery. Dumbledore had called them to his office for whatever reason, but Harry was too preoccupied with the death he had witnessed to care. He flinched. The death of Cedric and the rising of Voldemort.

Shuddering, Harry took a deep calming breath. That monster killed Cedric, Harry told himself, not him. He didn’t do anything. He swallowed heavily. Right. He didn’t do anything. Anything at all. Not even help Cedric.

Before he could fall into his depression, Ron nudged him with a strained smile. Glancing up, Harry realized they were at the base of the statue to Dumbledore’s office. With a sigh, Harry mumbled the password that had been written on the piece of paper Dumbledore sent him.

Ron nudged him again while the statue moved to the side, this time his smile being much more reassuring. Harry did his best to return the smile, feeling guilty for worrying his friends. They were the only thing keeping him together now, he shouldn’t be so rude to them.

They trudged up the stairs one after the other, it being too narrow to stand next to each other. Hermione was the one who knocked on the door after sending a concerned glance to him.

“Come in, young ones!” Harry blinked, looking up. Dumbledore usually was all knowing and knew exactly who was coming to him. But, after a quick look at his friends, he realized it made perfect sense that he hadn’t used a specific name. There were too many of them to use one name.

As soon as they entered the door, Harry’s eyes widened and snapped around the room. Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and— Sirius? What were they all doing here? Especially Sirius! Sirius was still a wanted man and… he hadn’t known the elder Weasley’s were aware Sirius was innocent. And… who were all these other people? He recognized Moody, hopefully the real one this time, and who he was pretty sure were Ron’s other older brothers judging by their hair, but everyone else was a mystery to him.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called this meeting,” Dumbledore greeted with a friendly grin. Harry stared at the man. How did he always know exactly what was going on? Most of the time it was awesome, and it made Dumbledore a guy Harry looked up to.

But others… it was just weird and awkward. Harry noticed Dumbledore looking disapprovingly over his glasses at him. Much like right now. It was like he knew exactly what Harry was thinking and that… unnerved him.

Dumbledore heaved a sigh, giving a grandfatherly smile around the room. He seemed to slump with exhaustion and hesitation. “I’ve found something that could defeat Voldemort before he ever becomes a threat again,” he announced tiredly, folding his wrinkled hands over each other.

Excited murmurs rose up and Harry realized… they actually believed Voldemort was back. They— they believed him! They didn’t doubt what he said happened like how everyone else did. A warmth spread through his chest and he smiled to himself.

With clear hesitation and weariness, Dumbledore sat a small box on his desk. It was quite fancy with elegant legs to hold up the bottom from the desk and gold trimmings lining the edges.

“This… is Pandora’s box. I doubt any of you know what that is,” Dumbledore glanced around with an amused smile as they sheepishly shook their heads. “Pandora’s box is a magical artifact. We are unsure of when it was created, only that the most powerful witch in existence, Pandora, was the one who created it. It… it can summon a soul from any point in time.”

“‘Summon a soul’?” Sirius parroted. “What does that mean?”

“It summons the soul of the person who puts their blood in it from the height of their strength and mentality,” Dumbledore answered calmly. He looked around and then sighed again, leaning his head down as if the weight of the world was upon him.

Harry frowned in concern. He knew this was putting a lot of stress on Dumbledore, but he hadn’t realized how much. “What is it, Headmaster?” He asked in worry.

“Well,” Dumbledore frowned, looking down at him, “I was… thinking of using it on you, Harry, my boy.”

“Wait, on Harry? My godson? Are you crazy!?” Sirius instantly exploded, “I thought you were going to use it on yourself! No way am I letting my only godson anywhere near that thing! I can’t believe you—“

“I’ll do it,” Harry interrupted. It was just bringing an older him back to them, right? What was Sirius so worried about? If they could rid the world of Voldemort forever, Harry would do anything. This honestly seemed a little too good to be true, but Harry trusted Dumbledore. He wouldn’t risk something that could hurt Harry. And, even if he would, Harry doubted it’d kill him. He shivered at the uneasy feeling that rushed through him at that thought, but quickly pushed it away. There was nothing to worry about… right?

“Harry!” Sirius exclaimed, kneeling in front of him, “Harry, this could be really dangerous! We have no idea what could happen. I… I’m not gonna be able to convince you, am I?” Harry shook his head with as reassuring a smile as he could make at the moment. Sirius sighed, “You’re so much like James. Okay, kid. Good luck.”

Sirius stood up after ruffling his hair. Harry couldn’t quite help his eyes tearing up, though he didn’t cry. It felt nice to be loved so much. After glancing at his friends, who gave him worried but excited looks, Harry turned back to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded and gave a put upon breath, “Thank you, my boy. It hurts to ask this of you, but we all know how dangerous Voldemort is. It’s best we take care of him before he gets stronger.”

The Headmaster proceeded to click open the box, revealing a swirling mass in the shape of a ball. It’s colors were constantly changing, but they seemed to mostly be on the darker end. Dumbledore pushed forward a small knife almost the size of a scalpel but clearly not meant for anything surgical.

“Just a drop or two of your blood if you would, my boy.”

He picked up the knife and hesitated for only a second before swiftly sliding it along his index finger. He immediately winced and jerked the knife away, leaving his finger to begin beading with blood.

It stung heavily, but Harry steadied his hand and held his finger over the box. They waited in anticipation as one drop fell, then another. The swirling ball sparked and spit out embers, stretching around and becoming much more aggressive.

The magic in the air became so heavy that even Harry could feel it. Minutes passed slowly and the ball was starting to die back down. Everyone glanced at each other with confusion and hesitation.

Harry trembled lightly and brought his hand back to himself instead of leaving it over the box. Seconds after he started to think it hadn’t worked, a large wispy golden ball was suddenly spat out, colors whipping wildly as it pushed through time itself. It hovered for a second in the air as everyone watched in complete silence before—

His eyes widened as the ball seemed to turn towards him and then it rushed at him. It slammed into his head and all the people in the room began letting out startled and alarmed noises.

His own noises drowned them out. He— he could feel his own soul being ripped out, violently thrown away and something ancient taking its place. The last thing he did was let out a blood curdling scream.

  
  


———

  
  


Hadrian sighed heavily from where he was sprawled across several bunches of pillows. He has heavily disliked mattresses for several thousand years by now, and only likes sleeping on fluffy pillows. He glanced to the side, his gaze landing on Death’s throne, which his pile of pillows laid right next to. The bastard loved lording his position over all his grim reapers, though he would never admit it.

Death was currently out on a mission set by Hadrian. That being ‘find something to entertain me’. It might have been easy thousands of years ago, but after living for ten thousand years, there was very little Harry hadn’t done by now. He has visited essentially every planet, even those uninhabited, and every subject that had once interested him he knew by heart.

Becoming the Master of Death hadn’t been something Hadrian had intended to do, but, unlike what most other MoD’s say from other universes, Hadrian was quite grateful it had. If it hadn’t, Hadrian would have never found out about the betrayal of his ‘friends’ and ‘family’.

Dumbledore had hid his inheritance from him, taking all the money for himself and using it to pay his ‘friends’ to spy on him. Practically everything about his life had been planned out to perfection. At the end, they had expected him to marry Ginny because of all the love potions they had started drugging him with. Luckily, his MoD title broke through it all and Hadrian had found out exactly what they had been doing. The only people Hadrian knew he could trust were Luna, Fred, George, Sirius, and Fawkes. The last one may have only been a Phoenix and may have been Dumbledore’s familiar, but Hadrian knew the bird had regretted it ever since because Fawkes had actually told him on the day of his final burning.

He smiled sadly to himself. Those people were the only humans he ever cared about and he missed them greatly. The rest of the humans nowadays were complete scum. Mainly due to the fact that Muggles had actually managed to kill all the Wizards and Witches. Huffing, Hadrian turned onto his side. He now hated Muggles with a burning passion, though he didn’t bother killing them. Oh sure, he killed and tortured a few here and there, but he didn’t really have a reason to kill every last one of them aside from revenge. Not to mention, Death would be upset about it considering humans were an integral part of the universe. If Witches and Wizards still existed, Death wouldn’t care if he killed all the Muggles, but with them gone, the Muggles had to stay.

Tom Marvolo Riddle had been right all along, Hadrian mused. He couldn’t quite help the love struck smile forming on his face. Oh, how he wished he hadn’t killed Tom. Hadrian had always had a huge crush on the man. But, thanks to Dumbledore, Hadrian would never get the chance to be with him. Growling, Hadrian flipped over again, smothering his face into one of his pillows.

Dumbledore had done a lot to him. Even his parents had been affected. With a sigh, Hadrian curled his large wings around himself. Hadrian had gained a creature inheritance after he became the Master of Death. At first, he assumed it to be a side effect of being the MoD, but it hadn’t taken him long to learn that he had had the inheritance all along. Only, the stupid old man had hidden it from him. Had made him look and feel human.

And he had done the same to his parents. Lily’s parents weren’t even her real parents. She was actually a demon, one that had certain powers that could be mistaken for a Witch. His father was a Neko, though Hadrian doubted he had ever known. He was somewhat glad that he hadn’t gotten full traits from each of them. Instead, he had gained a third. He was a third Demon, a third Neko, and a third Wizard.

It made it so his features weren’t completely inhuman and Hadrian was grateful for that. He didn’t want to look like a monster. Hadrian stretched out his wings again, eyeing them from where he sat. They were long and leathery, not unlike the wings one would see on a dragon. Claws sat at the very end of them and at the arching point on top. The bottom of his wings were a blood red, but the top was a deep shadow black.

He reached out and trailed his hand along the edge of one wing, shivering lightly at the strange feeling. His nails were very sharp now, as were his canines. Both his nails and his lips were a natural black, no doubt from his demon side. One of his ears flicked and he sighed, removing his hand from his wings to trail up the side of his head. His human ears were completely gone and replaced with cat ears. They were fuzzy and long, sticking out from the top of his head. He had a tail too. It was long and fuzzy as well and a sharp spade laid on it’s tip. Both were the same blood red as the underside of his wings.

His eyes closed briefly as his hand fell from his face to land on his pillows. His eyes had gone under change too. They had a slit pupil and the green was much more vibrant than ever before, partly because he no longer needed glasses. There was also that strange thing that happened whenever he felt particularly strong emotions or used lots of power. When that happened, his eyes turned a bright purple that literally glowed.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed a long strand of hair had fallen into his face. His dark black hair, which turned a very dark red in the right light, now went to the base of his tail. It was smooth and silky, so much so that most of the time he didn’t have to brush it, though he still did. It wasn’t exactly a choice made by Hadrian, but rather a trait that came from the fact that Hadrian was a submissive, though he liked it enough that he never bothered to cut it. Another such trait was his body type. Before, he had been muscular, though not overly so and quite manly with a good tan. Now, he was very lithe, almost dainty, and had extremely pale skin. His appearance was definitely a misdirection considering almost nothing could damage his body from the outside. He was just glad that Fate never went so far as to give him a mate. Well, he amended, that wasn’t exactly true.

She hadn’t given him a traditional mate, but he did have one. Tom Riddle. Part of the reason Hadrian had always had a crush on him was the fact he was his mate, though Hadrian hadn’t actually known that until after he’d already killed him. Usually, mates are meant for each other, the one perfect side to their soul. But that hadn’t happened to Hadrian because since when was he ever normal? Hadrian wouldn’t have even had a mate if it weren’t for the fact that a piece of Tom’s soul had lived inside of him for essentially his entire childhood. It was actually the only reason Hadrian could continue to live without his mate. If Tom had really been the perfect side to his soul, Hadrian wouldn’t have been able to bear his death.

Sighing, he flipped onto his back again, spreading his wings out so he didn’t crush them. In boredom, he lifted a foot in the air and began swinging it back and forth. His feet changed a little too. Maybe not as much as some of his body, but they had definitely changed. They were a little longer and his toes a little more spread out. There was also slight padding on the bottom of the balls of his feet and his toes. He didn’t like standing on his heel anymore because it felt weird and uncomfortable to have his foot flat. That was part of the reason he could only wear shoes with tall heels now, though he usually just didn’t wear shoes at all.

He also tended to wear more feminine clothing. He currently had on a ruffled tank top and tight skinny jean shorts, both being a bit lower in the back than typical in order to let out his wings and tail. The truth was these types of clothes made him feel nice. Like he was gorgeous and sexy. It had nothing to do with the fact he was submissive, it just… felt good.

Whining, Hadrian turned over for the nth time. He was so bored! Merlin, even reminiscing was boring by now. Propping his head, he glanced around the room. Abruptly, a cold hand landed on his tail and then yanked it.

Yowling, Hadrian flipped over again, slapping Death straight across the face. The bastard knew how sensitive his tail was! Death chuckled at him, rubbing his cheek, which barely had a mark, before sitting down in the throne next to Hadrian.

Death’s hand moved to his head and began lightly scratching just behind his ears. Hadrian froze for a second, desperately trying to stay mad, but quickly gave in and began purring, practically melting into the deity’s hand. It was unfair how Death knew exactly how to calm him down, especially when he was angry at Death himself, but it felt amazing, so Hadrian decided to ignore it for now.

The dark haired man wore a clean, crisp suit, smoothed to perfection, and a pair of businessman loafers. His eyes were the darkest black imaginable, yet his skin was as pale as snow, if not quite as healthy as it should be. His hair was swept to both sides, parting it for his face, and a low ponytail tied the rest behind his head, where it then fell just below his shoulders.

“Master, I may have found something that would entertain you for many years,” Death casually told him. Hadrian instantly perked up and placed his hands on the side of Death’s throne so he could peek over it at the man. Death gave an amused smirk, revealing his terrifying shark-like teeth, and continued. “You are being summoned back in time by Pandora’s Box. You’re soul would have already gone had you not been my Master, yet as it is, you have a choice. You can either go back to nineteen-ninety five and split the timeline or continue in the world you live in now.”

Hadrian’s eyes widened in excitement before quickly narrowing back down. These types of things usually don't happen without their drawbacks. Evidently knowing exactly what Hadrian was thinking, Death answered him, “Pandora’s Box doesn’t have nearly as many consequences as any other type of summoning would. However, it only takes your soul back in time. That means that it might take a few days for your soul to change your body back into what it is now. And your magic won’t be up to par for a little bit too, until your core settles inside your new, or more like _old_ I suppose, body.”

He nodded absently. That wasn’t too bad. Yeah… this… this could be amazing! Hadrian suddenly gasped. He could see Tom again! Maybe this time he could actually be with him too! Ohh, and he could get revenge! Harry had never had the chance to before. Back then, all he wanted to do was leave and so he had. He never actually made them pay for what they did to him. By the time he had returned, the Muggles had already killed all the Magicals on the planet.

Smiling widely, he popped up from his place on the floor. “Yes! Let— let the summoning take me. I want to go there!” Death merely gave a nod, both having expected this and not really having the proper emotions to care. A simple snap of his fingers and Hadrian crumpled to the ground as his soul left his body.

The Deity in front of him patted his soul fondly, and then waved his hand, sending him through the portal that had appeared behind him. Hadrian had expected to immediately go unconscious, but he was surprisingly aware of the time continuum passing around him, warping and folding itself to fit his disruption. It sped by quickly, centuries passing in the blink of an eye before it slowly came to a stop.

He was able to watch as it suddenly ripped apart, splitting at the seams and creating a second path. That juncture was where his soul left the void, returning to Earth. He was suddenly shoved up and out of a strange little box, one that he assumed to be the device Death was talking about.

He hovered in the air for a moment, merely sensing his environment since he was unable to see, before he felt a strong pull, roughly yanking him around. He slammed into someone’s forehead, assuming it was himself which was quickly confirmed by the soul already occupying the space.

It tried to fight, tried to stop him, but Hadrian barely even felt it. He did, however, hesitate just before expelling the soul of his younger self. There was something he was forgetting… The soul fighting him started up even fiercer, a false hope rising up as it assumed it was winning. Hadrian ‘sighed’, deciding to put the poor thing out of its misery.

Just before he did, though, what he was trying to remember hit him like a train. Perking up, Harry roughly yanked the tiny black shard out of the other souls being, pushing it out at the same time. He cradled the shard, hiding it deep inside his own soul to protect the small piece of his hopefully future lover.

It was at this point that the unconsciousness he had expected before came to him tenfold, knocking him out in an instant. Hadrian was just grateful he had finished what he was doing before it took him.

  
  


———

  
  


Voices faded in and out of his hearing as Hadrian slowly came to. His brows furrowed, and he twisted in discomfort at the loud shouts.

“Albus! You—”

“My boy—”

“—hope he’s okay.”

“—don’t panic—”

“Is he—”

After a few minutes of it continuing, Hadrian whined and curled over onto his side, blocking his ears with his hands. In an instant, everyone shut up, and crowded around his form.

Someone gently shook his shoulder, but he twisted again and ignored it. What was going on? He couldn’t remember how he got into this situation but his head was killing him and it hurt to think.

The voices started again, but this time in a whisper. Hadrian didn’t bother to listen, too preoccupied with his headache. Something was inside his head, and it hurt. His eyes slowly peeked open, only to slam shut again as he turned onto his other side.

What was this…? Wait… it felt— familiar? He slowly unfurled a tendril of his magic to wrap around it, and inhaled sharply. He remembered! This was a piece of Tom’s soul! He had gone back in time! _Holy shit_ , he had gone back in time!

Glee began building in his chest, but Hadrian calmed himself to instead focus on the soul shard. It was nestled within his soul, but it hadn’t gotten accustomed to it’s new home, hence the splitting headache. This was why he’d had so many headaches when he was younger, since the soul hadn’t been stabilized.

He bit his lip, pushing a small sliver of his magic into the soul. It quickly calmed. It almost felt like it was nuzzling him, burrowing into his own soul for comfort. Hadrian let it latch onto him. The soul shard was so weak that Hadrian knew it wouldn’t be able to do anything to him, especially not now that he was so much stronger than he had been as a child.

With that taken care of, his headache slowly receded. He sighed in relief, relaxing onto the hard floor of what he assumed to be Dumbledore’s office. A moment passed as he slowly took in the voices around him again. It took a second for their names to come to him since it had been so long, but he made a point to not forget his beginning years so it didn’t take nearly as long as it would have otherwise.

The first few were pretty obvious. Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius. Molly and Arthur were a bit of a surprise but he supposed at the time he had started to consider them as family, so maybe that was why. He had utterly no idea why Bill, Charlie, and the twins were there, though he wouldn’t put it past the latter two to not give their parents a choice about it.

Moody wasn’t surprising either, nor was most of the others considering they were all part of Dumbledore’s Order. What _was_ surprising was how fast the old man had gotten them gathered. He had always assumed it took a few months to get the Order together again or else he would’ve gone directly to Grimmauld and not to the Dursleys.

Then again, Dumbledore was always going on about how important the wards at the Dursleys’ were, so that’s probably why. It didn’t stop the spark of annoyance going through him, but he also didn’t bother letting it go further than that. He already despised Dumbledore and it’s been thousands of years since then, so what was the point of holding a grudge about something so small?

He had plenty of reason to hate the man, and make sure he doesn’t succeed without adding in all the little personal details or petty things. Sure, he would feel very satisfied about it and would definitely love getting revenge, but he was actually doing this for a much, much larger reason than pettiness.

Namely, the destruction of all things magical. That was certainly a reason he was pretty sure nearly anyone could get behind. Hadrian paused for a moment. How would he go about that, anyway? He definitely needed to destroy the muggles, that was non-negotiable, but what about all the muggle born's?

Blood purity was always such a stupid idea, even in the future. One of the main reasons muggles had been able to kill magic so easily was because of it. All the inbreeding had been slowly draining away their connection to the force of magic. Honestly, almost all of the greatest wizards in the world were half bloods, why on earth did pure bloods continue to think inbreeding was a good thing?

Hadrian wasn’t afraid to admit that some, _some,_ blood purity was a good thing. Making sure that the magic stayed in their blood for generations merely strengthened the bonds, and allowed greater access and bigger magical cores. But new blood was also necessary to make sure it didn’t go stagnant. The Gaunt's, the Potter’s, the Prince’s, and the Dumbledore’s were all long family lines, but it wasn’t until they got new blood introduced that they truly produced powerful wizards.

Hadrian shook his head, returning to the present moment. It was definitely an issue he needed to figure out, but right now wasn’t the time or the place. A dramatic groan brought the attention back to him, and Hadrian sat up slowly, rubbing grit out of his eyes. This body had only been dead for a split second before his own soul took over, but that had been just long enough for his body to start going numb, so it wasn’t even a complete act.

It’d probably take a few hours before this body was back up to snuff, and then several days before it became Hadrian’s real body. Though souls normally can’t change the bodies they’re in, his own soul was obviously much different, and capable of altering the DNA within his body if he willed it. He hadn’t had any reason to use that ability until today, though. And since he already knew exactly what his body needed to change to, the process would be ten times easier.

After another light shake of his head, Hadrian peeled his eyes open, blinking rapidly in the sudden brightness. The first thing his eyes landed on was Sirius Black, who was crouching in front of him, his own eyes wide with worry. “Harry?” He breathed, “Are you okay?”

He blinked. ‘Harry’? Had he really once gone by that name? It took a moment to clarify that, yes, that had actually happened. A frown appeared on his face. There was a reason he had started to go by Hadrian. After his self imposed exile from the magical world, Hadrian had come to realize just how undignified he’d once been, how awful he acted and looked, and he never wanted to go back.

Speaking of— he looked down at his body, grimacing. “Oh, no,” he groaned, “I’d forgotten I looked like such a street urchin. Ugh, I’ll need to fix this soon.”

“Harry?” Sirius questioned, eyebrows furrowing. “What— what do you mean? D’you know what the f— _heck_ happened there? Not even Dumbldore knows.” Sirius practically growled the last bit, his anger towards the Headmaster clear.

“Hnm, what a minute here. You’re telling me you idiots let him use that on me without knowing what it’d do? Merlin, I knew some of the people here weren’t quite right in the head, but like— seriously? And, please, do not make a pun, I’m not in the mood,” Hadrian rolled his eyes at the last bit, genuine anger rising in him as he remembered the abused blind trust he had used to have in these people.

“W-well, he said it’d bring an older you back— or, actually, I think it was somethin’ about bringing a soul back from the height of their life. Powers and things like that,” Sirius blinked, eyes narrowing now, “But you should have known that, right? You heard him earlier and agreed to it. Did—”

Sirius’ eyes widened, and he paled, “Did it give you amnesia? Oh, Merlin, I swear if—”

“No,” Hadrian immediately interrupted, causing his Godfather to freeze in place, “It did exactly what you wanted it to do.” Without wasting a moment, Hadrian swiftly stood up, eyes glancing at those in the room more obviously than he had earlier. The man quickly followed him, watching with confusion.

“Harry? Please— what’s going on, why’re you acting like this?”

“Pandora’s Box brings back the soul from their highest point in time. But,” he glanced meaningfully around, “It doesn’t bring back a body. Only the soul. And, like I said, it did _exactly_ what you wanted it to.”

Then, before they could properly recover from that revelation, Hadrian grimaced again, pulling his disgusting shirt away from his body slightly. “Ugh, these things are disgusting. I haven’t worn such trash in years,” His hands then moved up to his hair, tugging on it slightly, “And my hair is so _short_. How did I ever live like this?”

“Harry,” Sirius tried to say, voice shaky.

“Oh, and don’t call me Harry. It’s Hadrian. I haven’t gone by _that_ name since I was eighteen.”

“Ha-Hadrian,” Sirius nearly whimpered, and Hadrian finally looked at him. His eyes widened as he saw tears gathering, and slowly starting to run down his Godfather’s face. “Hadrian. Does that— does that mean we—?”

“What? What is it?” Hadrian rushed over to him, pulling the man close and thumbing away his tears. He hadn’t meant to make one of his favorite humans cry.

“Does that mean we killed _our_ Harry!?” Sirius demanded, shoving him away and angrily wiping at his face, removing the tears himself.

“No!” He answered instantly, clearly surprising them all. He shook his head, biting his lip. He hadn’t wanted to tell them this, for fear of alienating the few he cared about in this room, but it seemed it would’ve happened anyway.

“I— I killed him. Not you.”

“But you wouldn’t have even—”

“I had a choice, Sirius,” he said, causing the man to shut up, eyes wide. “I-I could’ve cohabited with him, or— or assimilated him instead, but I didn’t. I didn’t. I killed him. Not you. You didn’t even know what would happen, so it’s not your fault, Siri.”

“And… why didn’t you?” He asked blankly, face showing betrayal, though he was clearly holding back more tears.

“Because—” he sighed, running his hand through his hair, “Cohabiting would have made us both suffer. Assimilating… well, I’m much stronger than him. If I had assimilated him with our power difference, it would have just killed him without an afterlife whatsoever. I— just assumed kicking him out was the best option. Now, instead of suffering until we find someone he can safely possess, he can see his parents.”

Sirius paused, his face shadowed as he looked down. “Okay,” he sniffled, “That— that makes sense, I guess.” He looked up briefly to see Hadrian’s worried face, and winced. “I… I”m sorry. It’s not your fault either. You wouldn’t have had to even make a choice if we hadn’t summoned you.”

“You didn’t summon me though, did you?”

Hadrian smiled, amused as he watched his Godfather startle at the words and start protesting. “Sirius,” he interrupted firmly, “you need to stop taking responsibility for the actions of others. The only two responsible for this is the one who brought this up, Dumbledore, and the one who chose to do it, Harry. And he did choose to do this, right? There’s no reason to blame yourself, and you definitely shouldn’t _disrespect_ his decision, should you?”

“I— I…” The man quickly looked away, shame in his expression. “You’re right. You’re _right_. He doesn’t deserve to be disrespected when he did something so noble for us. Sacrificing himself for us all. And— Hadrian. I shouldn’t have been so rude to you. You’re my Godson too. Just— an older version.”

“Yes, I do believe, Harr— ah, _Hadrian_ is correct, Sirius, my boy,” Dumbledore suddenly interrupted, and Hadrian subtly scowled at the reminder that others were around them. The old coot’s face fell into a disappointed frown, sadness practically dripping from his eyes. Hadrian had to hide a grimace at the faked expression, though he had to admit if he wasn’t aware beforehand, he wouldn’t have even noticed. The man was exceptionally good at acting.

“I never would have suggested using this box if I had known Harry would die from it. This mistake is purely my fault and I must take the fault for it. This was never my intention. I do hope you’ll accept my most sincere apologies. I truly feel awful about this, my dear boys.”

Sirius sighed. “I don’t know if I can forgive you Albus, but I know you didn’t want this to happen. I— I’ll try my best not to hold it against you, I really will.”

Dumbledore nodded, a mournful expression on his face. “I fear that is the most I can ask of you, my boy.”

“Oh, Albus dear, I’m sure they’ll find it in them to forgive you,” Molly simpered, “You didn’t mean for this to happen, after all. Ron, Hermione, you two understand, don’t you?”

Ron nodded eagerly, eyes practically sparkling as he looked at Hadrian, but Hermione bit her lip, looking down. “I— I’m not sure. Maybe when I know what the consequences are, but I’m not sure right now. I-I don’t hold it against you, though,” She hurried to assure, “I think you did this because it’s truly for the greater good! So— I suppose it’s alright then.”

Hadrian eyed them, confused. Everything about that had been genuine, but what he knew in the future contradicted it. There was no way that care or interest in him could be real, yet it looked— he knew what happened in the future. How they hurt him and betrayed him. What he saw now couldn’t be true. That was _that_.

Shaking his head, he turned back just in time for Dumbledore to beam, if a bit more tiredly than his usual bright ones. “I thank you, young ones. Now, Hadrian,” he looked over his glasses, “I’m hoping it should be obvious what we summoned you for. The Dark Lord has just been resurrected, and we needed your experience and expertise to help make plans for when he announces himself.”

He had to strain himself to keep in the eye roll, and instead nodded politely. “Of course, sir. I had assumed as much.”

Dumbledore nodded back, his stern look returning to the beam, which was now at full strength. “Now, I think it’s necessary for you to relax a little, and get used to your body again. We will retrieve you from your relatives a month into summer break. Then, we shall start preparing.”

It was an extremely stupid plan, but Hadrian didn’t disagree with it. It might be stupid for them, but it would be _perfect_ for him. An entire month to get his body back up to snuff, clean himself up, _and_ contact the Dark Lord? It was definitely a deal Hadrian wouldn’t pass up.

After that, everything passed quite quickly. They all seemed to be accepting of the fact that their work wouldn’t start for another few weeks. Ron and Hermione had tried to talk to him after, but he’d quickly made it clear that he was tired, which was actually true, and wanted to sleep. He wasn’t sure what to do about them during the last few days at Hogwarts, but he certainly would avoid them to the best of his ability.

Hadrian flopped back into his old four poster bed, looking up at the top of it tiredly. The curtains were shut around him, and he quickly hit them with silencing charms and simple wards to keep them from opening.

The drain he felt after that was concerning considering his usual level of power, but Death had said his magic wouldn’t be the greatest right off. Sighing, he roughly ran his hands over his face. What should he even do? He knew the basics of what he was doing, but not the details.

Kill the muggles, blackmail Tom into marrying him, fix the Ministry, make sure Magic doesn’t die, and— so much more. There was so much he needed to do. He sighed again, turning onto his side, shifting uncomfortably on the mattress. He was so used to pillows, that the flat thing was actually a little unbearable.

Who should he tell? If he wanted his friends to stay his friends, he _needed_ to tell them about why he was doing it, but when? He knew that Fawkes and Luna already knew vaguely of it. Fawkes had made it quite clear he was on his side when he had briefly brushed against Hadrian’s occlumency shields as he was leaving the office. Luna had sent him a knowing look and a wink when they had walked passed her on the way to Gryffindor tower.

He groaned in annoyance. This, all of this, could be decided later. After he’s had some sleep, and after he’s thought everything through. The only things he was truly firm on right now was killing the muggles and finding a way to marry Tom.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing much really happens in this chapter, mostly just in-between things, but things that needed to be established nonetheless.

Hadrian darted into an empty compartment, hitting it with several wards. He knew many more protective ones, but they were a bit more lethal than he wanted on a train full of children. Especially _Gryffindor_ children, who would definitely not give up.

Sighing heavily, he plopped himself onto the seats, throwing his elbow up on the window edge so he could rest his head in his palm. It had been a long week. Avoiding Ron and Hermione had been like pulling teeth. Ron wanted to know everything about the future, while Hermione merely made assumptions and gauged his reactions to them.

It was an intelligent strategy that fit one of the brightest witches of Hogwarts, but, Merlin, was it _annoying_! They had already figured out that something big changed in the future, and that he was very much gay. Hadrian had been surprised that they hadn’t reacted bigger than they had when they found out.

Honestly, they were much different that he remembered. They— they were acting like they had before he discovered the betrayal. But that wasn’t too surprising, if he really thought about it. After all, they wouldn’t have any reason to believe he had found out aside from the cold shoulder he’d been attempting to give them.

A sigh of pain escaped him. He remembered how close they had been, and this was exactly like that. There wasn’t any pretending. None, zilch. Hadrian can see when Dumbledore is acting, and that man is one of the best in the world at hiding. There just wasn’t anyway they could hide it from him, especially when they were only fourteen going on fifteen. It wasn’t possible.

He didn’t know what was worse— that they genuinely believed everything they were doing or that children could still potentially fool him. Hadrian growled, roughly rubbing his eyes with his hands. There was something going on here. But _what_? What could he possibly be missing?

There was a tap on the wards around his compartment. He nearly snarled at the interruption, tempted to do something that was most definitely not legal— before he recognized that aura. Eyes widening, Hadrian released the wards for just a second, just enough to reinstate them with that magical signature able to enter.

A soft giggle came from the other side of the door, and then it slid to the side as Luna Lovegood entered. “Hello, Destroyer,” she breathed airily. Hadrian scowled slightly, because of _course_ Luna would use that title of his, but before he could berate her, she sat down and continued. “You need to talk to them.”

“Wha—” He started, before cutting off as he realized she was referring to his dilemma.

“You need to talk to them soon, and in absolute private,” her face turned very serious for a second, “ _Before_ Goat finds out who you are.” Hadrian sucked in a sharp breath. For Luna to let go of her airy personality, she truly meant it. He didn’t know how talking to the betrayers would help him figure this out, but if she genuinely thought it would…

“Alright. I’ll talk to them a couple days after they take me to Gri— the order safehouse.” He glowered as he choked, remembering the fidelius on that particular home. That charm had fallen once everyone holding the secret died. Hadrian hadn’t ever been named ‘secret keeper’ so even though he knew where it was, the charm had still failed. He supposed that he was back under the charm now that the secret keepers were alive again.

Luna paused for a moment, and then gave her usual slightly floaty grin. Hadrian assumed that meant that was an alright time. He then paused, and scowled playfully again. “‘Destroyer’?” He demanded.

“Of course, Destroyer,” she sniggered, “You deserve no less of a title, Destroyer, not after you wiped out half the universe.”

Hadrian groaned dramatically, leaning back in his seat. “Oh, c’mon! That was eight thousand years ago, when I was still practically a child! I don’t know why ever since, everyone and their mother has called me that,” he grumbled.

“Yes, a tantrum caused by a ‘child’ wiped out half the universe and led them to seeing you as the Destroyer. ‘The One Who Would Destroy the Entire Universe On It’s Final Day’.”

“What!?” He sat up frantically, eyes comically wide, “Please tell me they didn’t call me that! That’s so much worse than ‘The Boy Who Lived’!”

She merely blinked innocently, and Hadrian groaned again. “I never figured out why you did that,” she admitted.

A quick glance at her told him that she was expecting an answer. He sighed. “That day… that was the day that you, the future you, moved on from being a ghost. You were the last one to do so. I guess… I guess it was just enough to trigger a bit of a… I suppose it _was_ a tantrum, wasn’t it?”

“I _was_ being sarcastic, but yes, I guess it would be,” She mused, tilting her head consideringly.

“How do you know about all this, anyway?” He abruptly asked, eyes narrowing at her, “I thought you were like a seer, but that’s much more than a seer.”

“Oh, I forgot,” she smiled mischievously, “The night your soul was brought into the past, I had a vision much different than usual. It wasn’t just a precognition. No, that night… I saw everything that happened to my future self. Basically, I gained all of her, or rather _my_ , memories. I don’t know much about anything that happened after the destruction of half the universe on account of me passing on, but I do know a few things since my visions in our previous timeline came with those memories.”

“I— I— _how_?” He asked, speechless.

“I don’t know how, but I suspect one of the Diety’s decided that I should come with you, even if it's only memories and not my actual soul that transferred, unlike you.”

“It could’ve been any one of them, I suppose,” he considered, “Except Death. Death couldn’t send my soul through time without an assist, so I don’t think he would’ve been able to give you those memories. My bets are on Fate or Lady Magic.”

Luna giggled, nodding. “Mine are as well.”

  
  


**———**

Hadrian quickly left Platform Nine and Three Quarters while all the families were busy reuniting. It was a bit difficult slipping through the crowd, especially since he hadn’t bothered to sneak around since magic died, but he managed it. Maybe a little awkwardly, and he almost got spotted a couple times, but oh well. He still got through without bothering with Ron, Hermione, and potentially the Order.

He wasn’t sure if the same thing that happened last time would still happen, considering they knew he was an adult in a child's body, but he hadn’t wanted to risk anyone telling them he was ‘traumatized’. No, he didn’t want the Dursley’s to think they could hurt him. He wanted to make them suffer, but getting bullied the moment he went in the house definitely wasn’t something he wanted to kick start it.

While he wasn’t worried about being hurt, he _was_ worried he might lose his control if they dared to touch him. Killing the Dursley’s would be too much of a dead giveaway no matter how much he may want to. That, of course, wouldn’t stop him from absolutely ruining their precious normal lives. It would be relatively easy considering his magic had managed to get back up to par, though his body had yet to completely follow.

“BOY!” Vernon bellowed, waving his hand to demand him to immediately come over. Hadrian rolled his eyes, and strolled over, dropping his trunk at his feet. His uncle purpled in rage, but glanced over Hadrian’s shoulder at the Platform, and instead simply snatched the end of it, and roughly jammed it into the boot of his car.

“In,” he gritted at him, pointing at the back door. Hadrian shifted his stance, crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow.

“No,” he declined, smirking as Vernon’s eyes bugged out, his body practically shaking in his anger. “I’m going to do some shopping first. I’ll get to your house on my own.”

“You— You’re not going to use any of our hard earned money, Boy!” Vernon sputtered.

“Of course not,” Hadrian scoffed, “I do have my own money, y’know?” He turned to leave, then paused, “Oh, do anything to my trunk, and I’ll sick Sirius Black on you.” Vernon almost didn’t hear that part, too busy being preoccupied at the thought of Hadrian’s money. The greedy look on the bastard's face disappeared as he paled.

He growled, then, without answering, stomped off to his car. Vernon peeled away, leaving marks on the road. He was lucky no cops were nearby, because that would’ve probably gotten him a ticket. Pouting at the missed opportunity, Hadrian started sauntering down the street. He’d probably have to deal with Vernon trying to take his money when he got back, but he was sure that wouldn’t take long to resolve.

A devious chuckle escaped him.

It only took a few hours to get a complete new wardrobe. He had even popped into Diagon Alley, under a glamour, to buy a new trunk as well, this one much better than his first. It would hold all the clothes and books he wanted, especially once he got done upgrading it to some models he remembered from the future.

Hadrian posed in front of the mirror, grinning. He quite liked how these clothes looked on him. He had always missed the twentieth century fashion, enough so that he had usually stuck to it even if it was thousands of years out of date.

Skin tight blue jeans clung to his legs, with a black leather belt, and a gold belt buckle. It was emblazoned with the Hallows logo, though had swiftly been charmed to only be visible to those he chose. He had a half jacket on, which stopped just above his midriff, and was also made of black leather. The shirt underneath it also stopped at his midriff, revealing his stomach, and had a bow tie twisted in the fabric in front as if to hold it there. The shirt also left his neck bare for a necklace if he ever decided to wear one, and showed off his clavicles. It was a lighter black than the leather, setting off the outfit.

Lastly, there were knee high black boots, with rather tall heels, on his feet. Both fortunately and unfortunately, his feet had been one of the first of his body to return. Unfortunately, because these boots didn’t fit him quite right and were looser around the leg than he liked, and fortunately, because that meant he could order custom boots without having to wait longer. The saving grace of the current pair he had on was the fluff around the top, which made it look much nicer than it felt.

That was it for his clothes, but he had also changed other things too. His hair, which had been short at this age, was at his waist again with the help of a hair growth potion. It was currently up in a high ponytail, so it only reached the middle of his back. Two bunches were left out to frame his face, and fell in front of his shoulder until his hips. His hair was tucked rather loosely and messily into the ponytail, but he quite liked the way it looked, so he didn’t fix it.

Hadrian had also dabbed a little makeup on. Not nearly enough to really stand out, but rather just some mascara, and eye liner. His lips, and nails, were naturally black again, so he didn’t bother with lipstick. All in all, it made his face pop, especially his eyes. It was made even better by the fact that they weren’t covered by his old ugly glasses, which he had swiftly tossed away as soon as his eyes had fixed themselves. Said eyes flicked up to the one blemish on his body.

The lightning bolt scar had faded after the horcrux got kicked out of his head. Now that it was back, he doubted it would fade again. Frowning, he snatched up some concealer, and dabbed it on. That was better. Hadrian doubted he’d actually mind the scar that much if only the bloody thing wasn’t so red and inflamed all the time.

A chuckle escaped him as he looked into the mirror again. It was the perfect mix of ‘manly’ and ‘feminine’, which was usually what he aimed for unless persuaded. And— He looked nothing like Harry Potter. A smirk appeared on his face as he wondered about the reactions of the Order. 

He quickly paid for all the clothes he’d bought, which consisted of a _lot_ of bags, and ducked out of the store into an alley. After a quick unshrinking of his new trunk, he shoved everything in it to sort out later, and then proceeded to shrink it again and tuck it into the pocket on the chest of his jacket.

Hadrian stretched, easily spinning on his heel to apparate into another alley way, this one much closer to Privet Drive. He was lucky he had managed to convince the Order to remove the trace from him. Sure, he could have removed it himself, but then he would have needed to jump a lot of hoops because they would be wondering why he could use magic. It was so much simpler like this.

A smirk appeared on his face as he walked confidently out, sauntering as he went towards his destination. It didn’t take long to reach Number Four, though he had gotten lost a couple times simply because it had been so long since he’d been here. He twisted the door knob, chuckling as he noticed it was locked. Did they really think that would keep him out?

The door opened easily after he hit it with an unlocking charm. He was tempted to kick it open dramatically, but decided that might anger them a little too much. Hadrian really wanted to piss them off, but if they got too angry then they might do something stupid and anger _him_. As satisfying as it would be to do away with the abusers, he couldn’t risk the Order catching onto him yet.

He still slammed the door shut though, since he did want to bring their attention to his new attire. In an instant, there was a bellow, “Boy! Get in here!” His smirk got bigger as he continued to saunter towards the living room. Vernon and Dudley were sitting on the couch, while Petunia was bustling around the kitchen cleaning dishes. Perfect.

Vernon stood up, red in the face as he prepared to shout, before he took in Hadrian's new clothes. He blubbered, confused and pointing rudely, “What is _that_ , Boy!?”

A derogatory eyebrow was raised. “These are my clothes. I would’ve assumed that to be rather… _obvious_ ,” He sneered, rolling his eyes.

The man’s face was purple now, puffing up in anger, “I didn’t know you were a disgusting poof, boy! You better stay away from my perfectly normal son, freak!”

Hadrian scoffed, “As if I would ever touch that beach ball. I’m way out of his league, and he’s very much not my type. I’d be surprised if he was _anyone’s_ type, really.”

“What did you just say!?” Vernon yelled, somehow managing to swell up even more. He stomped towards him, raising a threatening hand, before abruptly stopping. His hand wavered, as if he was thinking about whether or not it was worth it to hit him.

“Do it,” Hadrian hissed sharply, an almost insane grin stretching across his face, “Fucking _do_ it, I _dare_ you.” He knew he shouldn’t encourage him, but he couldn’t help himself. If that pig touched him, Hadrian knew he would kill him within the second.

As if sensing his killing intent, Vernon paled and stumbled back. “Your room! Go to your room, freak!” A snarl briefly went across Hadrian’s face, successively scaring them, but he did as told. No matter how much he wanted to tear them apart, he couldn’t right now. He had to keep reminding himself of that.

Just as he was leaving the room, Vernon shouted, “And we’ll be having talks about this money of yours, boy! We’ve done so much for you, and you haven’t paid us a single cent! That better be changing soon!”

A humorless laugh barked out of his mouth, and he swiveled around glaring. “As if! The moment you do something good for me is the moment the universe ends! You haven’t seen a single cent and you never will!”

“Now see here, boy! If you won’t give us your money, we’ll take it from you forcefully!” Vernon raged, stomping again. He didn’t approach though, clearly still cowed from the last time.

“I’d like to see you try! One word of you trying to steal from me to my account managers, and you’ll be _dead_ faster than you can say ‘Bastard’!” Vernon paled again, but only glared harsher and snarled.

“TO YOUR ROOM!”

Hadrian didn’t want to listen to him, but if he stayed one second longer, someone really _was_ going to die. He growled, and turned around to leave again. Petunia was staring out of the kitchen with wide eyes, rapidly looking between the two of them. She hadn’t ever seen Hadrian stand up to them, so he supposed it made sense. He paused as he got an idea.

“Oh, one more thing,” he turned towards her with a sly grin, “I got my trace removed before I left school. D’you know what that means?” Petunia numbly shook her head, though the expression on her face made it clear she had an idea. “It means I can use magic now, and no one will care. _Don’t_ push me.”

All three Dursley’s paled wildly, and Dudley even gave a feminine ‘eep’, jumping up to get as far away from him as possible. Hadrian didn’t stick around long enough to to see more. He roughly shoved open the door to his room, which was still littered with locks, and slammed it shut behind him. It was done hard enough that the paint around the doorway chipped away slightly and there was a huge crack leading from the bottom of the door to the middle of it.

He glanced over at his poor excuse of a bed and huffed at it. A quick flick of his hand, and the bed was replaced with a pile of fluffy pillows only second to those he had next to Death’s throne. He flopped down on them, sighing in relief.

While it was tempting to just go to sleep, there was one more thing he needed to do. He rolled his shoulders, relaxing back and closing his eyes. A couple deep breaths and he entered meditation easily. 

Colors burst into life before his eyes. There was a shield of sickly yellow magic surrounding the entire house. His own magic was swirling around him in a rich emerald green, similar to his eyes. There was a tinge of black here and there from his frequent use of dark magic. A dark blood red mixed with black was moving like molasses around his scar, no doubt from the horcrux.

He quickly focused on the shield of yellow, directing his magic to brush over it gently. He grimaced as the overwhelmingly sweet taste invaded his mouth, mixed with a hint of sour. He had always hated Dumbledore’s magic. It was far too sweet, and liked to cuddle up to everyone else's magic in an attempt to ‘comfort’ them. It was disgusting.

He carefully started peeling it away. If he did this just right, then Dumbledore would be none the wiser. Each strip of magic he pulled off crumpled to the ground and started fading away. Eventually, there was only a single streak of yellow arching over the house, whereas there had been an entire dome before.

A strand of his own magic intertwined with it. Not only would it block the little bit of magic the shield had left, it would also make sure Dumbledore wouldn’t notice the dome was essentially gone. With that magic out of the way, Hadrian was left with a decaying brownish black dome that had been hidden by Dumbeldore’s magic.

Hadrian examined it cautiously, then rolled his eyes. _These_ were the supposed blood wards that his mother’s sacrifice had given him? It was pretty obvious they weren’t working. He supposed it was because the Dursley’s weren’t really his family. They may be connected by blood, but he would never, ever consider them as family.

With that last thought, he watched in shock as the magic shuddered and then collapsed entirely. So that’s what it was. It had been held up by the thin threads of his past self thinking the Dursley’s as family. Hadrian had never cared for them, but he did know that he had once genuinely thought of them as family. Now that that was completely gone, the blood wards disappeared with it.

So Dumbledore hadn’t been completely lying about those wards. Judging by the fact he had put up his own wards though, Hadrian assumed that he still knew they weren’t working the way they were supposed to. A frown appeared on his face as he came out of meditation. Lily had tried so hard to protect him, yet everything she had done was for naught.

Though he had long gotten over his parent’s death, it was still a bit stinging to realize that. Despite all that effort, she couldn’t protect him. He could only hope that she had passed on completely by now. He didn’t want her to know how he had suffered. Neither of his parents deserved to be faced with their failure, not when they tried so very hard.

Sighing, he turned over onto his side, and tried to fall asleep.

  
  


**———**

He was woken in the morning by a tapping on his window. Groaning, he crawled out from his pile of pillows. WIth a yawn, he cracked open the window. An eagle-owl quickly flew in, circling around the room. It landed on his desk, watching him with alert eyes.

It’s body puffed up, and it quickly slipped into a defensive position. Hadrian rolled his eyes. Most animals haven’t liked him since he became the Master of Death. It’s like their instincts were screaming at them that he wasn’t to be trusted and he was dangerous and could kill them. While he did understand why, that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying beyond belief at times like this.

Only highly intelligent animals got close to him since they could at least repress their instincts long enough to see him for himself. He sighed as he remembered Hedwig. Hedwig had taken one look at him and decided he wasn’t her master anymore. She was probably somewhere in Hogwarts owlery. It wasn’t too distressing since he’d lived without her for thousands of years, but it _was_ disappointing. 

Frowning, Hadrian slowly reached forward. The owl watched him with sharp eyes, puffing up farther, and folding its wings high. Then, quick as a snake, Hadrian launched forward, and snatched the letter from the owl. Screeching, the owl practically tumbled backwards, pecking at his hand but missing him entirely.

The owl righted itself, huddling into a ball of angry fluffy feathers, and perching as far away from Hadrian as possible. It took a moment to look around, glance warily at him, and then was out the window a millisecond later. He winced. He really hoped a response wasn’t needed.

He looked down at the letter in his hand, eyes widening when he saw Gringotts’ seal on it. Why would the bank contact him now? Hadrian’s eyes quickly narrowed back down, and then glared suspiciously out the window. He had always suspected a mail redirection ward had been part of Dumbledore’s wards, and this only confirmed it.

Sighing, he carefully peeled the seal up, leaving it unbroken as he opened the letter.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_It has recently come to the attention of Gringotts that you have been emancipated. However, there are several discrepancies found in this statement, including a letter from your Magical Guardian stating that you were not ready to claim your titles._

_We request a meeting to resolve this matter, preferably without your Magical Guardian or other Guardians. A recent unknown event has changed your status as well, and we must confirm that you are still the legal owner of the various vaults listed in your name._

_We have enclosed a portkey which will be active in two days’ time, on June 30th, between 9:30 AM, and 12 PM. The password to activate the portkey is ‘Ragnok’s office’._

_As numerous letters over the years have gone unanswered, we at Gringotts have concluded that your mail may be monitored and/or filtered. If this summons is not answered by the aforementioned deadline, June 30th, we will send an in-person liaison to pick you up._

_Potter Account Manager_

_Black Account Manager_

_Head Teller_

_Ragnok the Third_

His eyebrows rose. Now he was really glad he had decided to remove those wards so soon. If he had waited even a little longer, then he wouldn’t have gotten this letter. He didn’t want to even imagine the reaction of the Goblin’s if he hadn’t answered the summons. He grimaced. It certainly wouldn’t have been pleasant, that was for sure.

After a shudder at the thought, Hadrian turned the letter over, shaking it slightly. A golden wrist band fell out, landing in his hand. He twisted it around, examining it. There were some strange symbols on the inside of it. It took him a second to recognize it as Gobbledygook, if only because he hadn’t seen it in so long. Another second was required to translate it. ‘Portkey to Ragnok’s Office’ it read.

Not seeing anything potentially harmful or dangerous, aside from the portkey magic itself which Hadrian still hated, he quickly put it on his wrist. This was not something he wanted to risk losing. As soon as it was secured, it shrunk down until he wouldn’t be able to remove it without destroying it.

Yawning, he rolled his shoulders, and then stretched. He casually tossed the letter onto his desk, shut the window, and got dressed for the day. He then tried to open his door to go downstairs. HIs eyebrow rose when it didn’t budge. Did they really lock him in? Rolling his eyes, he easily unlocked all the locks.

As if anything they did would be able to stop him now. Have they already forgotten that he said he could use magic now? He paused. Or perhaps they thought he was bluffing. It was entirely possible considering the last time he had ‘access to his magic’ he had genuinely been lying.

What to do, what to do, he mused as he left his room. Should he terrify them? Come right out and show what he could do? Or should he be more subtle? Ruin their lives from the shadows as he had originally planned? It all depended on how much they pissed him off, he supposed.

Until they did something truly unforgivable, he’d just make their lives hell without any indication it was him doing it. Yes, that seemed like a decent plan. Unfortunately, he couldn’t really do anything until later this summer. He didn’t want them to realize it was him doing it, and they’d instantly blame him if it happened now.

Hadrian hummed as he strolled down the stairs. Vernon was probably already at work, and Dudley seemed to be playing video games in the living room judging by the noises. A quick glance into the kitchen told him exactly where Petunia was.

He leaned against the doorway for a moment, watching her work with passive eyes as he contemplated. A tilt of his head, and he intentionally squeaked his boot against the floor as he stepped fully into the room. Petunia whipped around with wide eyes, mouth open in preparedness to shriek.

She froze as soon as she saw it was him, paling and ringing her trembling hands together. “B-boy!” She snapped shakily, “Why aren’t you in your room!? Didn’t— didn’t we lo-lock your door?”

A low, smooth chuckle was her answer, his eyes half lidded as an amused smirk crept up his face. She swallowed, stumbling back a step at the intimidating display he made. His eyes almost seemed to glow as he spoke, but it was an odd _purple_ glow unlike the current color of his eyes.

“Didn’t I say I could use magic, _Aunty_ ?” He taunted, slowly walking forward. Petunia paled ever farther, trembling more, and outright _falling_ into the counter behind her.

“Sta-stay back!” She demanded, voice breaking from her fear. Hadrian didn’t. He was right up in her face when he paused, reached a hand behind her and grabbed an apple from the basket.

He walked away, a cruel grin on his face as she practically collapsed in relief. “You— you weren’t lying?” She managed to question hoarsely after a moment of recovery. Her eyes never once left his form, wide and deer-like as if she thought if she lost sight of him, he’d attack.

It was an amusing idea, but Hadrian refrained. For the time being, at least. In response to her question, he threw the apple he had retrieved into the air. It hovered there unnaturally for a few seconds, then fell back into his hand.

“No,” he told her simply, and left the room before she had a chance to unfreeze. He blinked, mildly surprised to find a shaky Dudley watching him from a position halfway between the couch and the kitchen. Evidently, he’d stood up to gather a snack, and had heard the conversation.

He waved at him, smirking again at the flinch it earned, and then proceeded to leave the house entirely. With his body not yet corrected, he needed to do a few extra things than usual to keep it functioning. It appeared altering your genetic code wasn’t exactly healthy. Exercising wasn’t so hard, but the eating healthily thing was a bit draining considering he’d never bothered before.

He started jogging towards the park, giggling again as he thought of what happened. He really couldn’t wait until he could play with them _properly_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, not too happy with how a few of these scenes turned out, but they’re not bad enough for me to want to redo them so *shrug*


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we’re getting into the big guns lol. It’s time for the first meeting with Voldemort. It may not go the way you expect. ;)

“Ohhh,” he nearly moaned, letting out his deep breath. A cloud of smoke fell from his lips, curling into the air before it disappeared slowly. “I missed you so much,” he crooned at the cigarette in his hand.

He took another deep inhale of it, held it for almost a minute and then let it out with a happy sigh. “I’m never going without you again,” he swore, tempted to nuzzle the package of death sticks in his other hand.

Hadrian let a grin split his face as he tucked the package into one of the pockets on his half jacket. He’d gone five thousand years without these, ever since the muggles wizened up and made the product completely impossible to buy. He had attempted to learn how to make them himself, but that information was locked down so hard that he had given up after a few years.

It took many withdrawals to get over it, but Hadrian was not a happy camper that he’d gotten over his addiction unlike pretty much anyone else would be. Hadrian never had to worry about cancer or sickness or pretty much anything that could kill him, one due to his immortality, and the other because his demon side was almost completely immune to sickness. It had quickly become his comfort item simply because he never dealt with too many downsides of it.

And, besides, one of its nicknames was literally ‘death stick’. How could he, the Master of Death, ever resist such a thing? Hadrian snickered at the thought, took another long drag, and checked the watch he’d recently bought. It was much easier than casting tempus all the time, especially when muggles were nearby.

Ten on the dot. Apparently he’d gotten a little caught up in his reunion with the cigarettes. Hadrian sighed heavily, and spent another five minutes smoking until it was down to just a little left. He flicked it away with a disappointed groan. He was a little tempted to get another one out, but he really didn’t want to wait longer to get to his meeting.

Better to get there early than risk the goblins' anger by arriving at the last minute. He shivered slightly. Though he knew he was more powerful than them and could easily defend himself, the goblins were still scary. Being attacked still  _ hurt _ , and he wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to take away his inheritance like they had in the future.

Hadrian smiled grimly. They hadn’t gotten anything from him, but that was only because he’d pretty much killed them all only a year after the war ended, on the day they’d tried to steal from him, though he knew that they only thought of it as compensation. Goblins didn’t know when to give up, and probably never would. That’s why they were so dangerous. They wouldn’t stop even if they knew they would lose.

Even to this day, they remained one of the few that succeeded in killing him, even though death wasn’t nearly as permanent for him as the goblins had assumed. Hadrian shook his head. It wouldn’t be good to have all these thoughts in his head of their betrayal, especially when he was going to go meet them.

It was best to try for a more peaceful approach if he didn’t want to start a war by accident. He couldn’t risk that this time, not since he actually gave a shit what happened to the Magical British Isles. Back then, he hadn’t cared since he hadn’t known magic would become extinct later, and he’d already had plans to abandon the wizarding world by then anyway. This time, however, it was different. Very different, and definitely a lot worse if something went wrong.

It was very unlikely he’d get another chance if he screwed this up. Hadrian shuddered, rubbed his arms to get rid of his nerves and then ducked into an alley. He carefully let out his hidden features, feeling odd as they slid out of his skin and straight through his clothes.

He didn’t deny it felt weird when his extra features, such as his wings and tail and occasionally his ears, simply phased right through what he was wearing. However, it was also very useful having this ability, since he didn’t always like wearing things that exposed him enough to not get in the way of those features. Hadrian was pretty sure it was an ability from his demonic side, but he didn’t question it too much.

And it was for the best that he was showing his real form now, he reassured himself. He needed the goblins to both be afraid of him and respect him enough to be allies. At least he hadn’t broken into their bank yet, hopefully never, so they shouldn’t be quite so pissy about him anymore.

Sighing heavily, and nearly giving into the urge for another cigarette, Hadrian brought up the golden band on his wrist and whispered the password into it. A quick jerk behind his naval, and he had to steady himself as the ground was whisked away from beneath him.

It was quickly replaced by a different floor, and as his vision stopped spinning, the room around him became recognizable. He took a glance around. So this was Ragnok’s office. He definitely remembered it from the future. Ragnok had been… quite vicious, even managing to land the killing blow.

Hadrian shook his head slightly, banishing the memory. Suddenly, a spear was in his face. His eyes crossed to look down at it, and then focused to look at the snarling goblin holding the spear. “Intruder! Speak your name!”

“Ah,” he raised a hand up, and placed a single finger on the edge of the spear, pushing it down, away from his face. “Harry Potter,” Hadrian said as he quirked an eyebrow up, a question clearly visible on his face.

Ragnok snarled again. “Impossible! You look nothing like Harry Potter, intruder!” He tried to force his spear back up, but Hadrian held it firmly down, annoyance quickly gaining ground in his expression.

“Yes, I am. I’ll take an inheritance test if you really can’t believe me. That’s what we were gonna do anyway, right?” The goblin froze, eyes widening comically. He clearly hadn’t expected him to offer any real means of confirming his identity.

Clearing his throat, Rangok yanked the spear away, still eyeing him warily as he went behind his desk. A piece of parchment and a dagger were quickly slammed down on top of it. He raised his spear again, as if waiting for the test to come back negative.

Hadrian rolled his eyes discreetly, and tore a wound into his thumb with his own teeth. He held it over it just long enough for three drops of blood, and then yanked it back, healing it quickly. The blood faded into the parchment, before black began moving across, forming words.

  
  
  


**Hadrian Jameson Potter**

Age: 14(10,998)

Horcrux: Tom Marvolo Riddle

**Parents**

James Fleamont Potter: Deceased

Lillian Marie Potter Née Evans: Deceased

**Godfathers**

Sirius Orion Black: Alive (Fugitive)

Severus Tobias Snape: Alive

**Godmothers**

Alice Helena Longbottom: Alive (Incapacitated)

Minerva Isobel McGonagall: Alive

**Current Guardians**

Petunia Grace Dursley Nèe Evans: Alive

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore: Alive

Sirius Orion Black: Alive (Fugitive)

**Lordships**

Potter— Blood

Black— Magic

Peverell— Blood

Master of Death

**OTHER Inheritance**

35% Deal-Maker Demon

35% Man-Eater Neko

30% Wizard

**Compulsions**

Hate Slytherins— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

Love Griffindors— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

Love Weasleys— Molly Weasley (Broken)

Crush on Ginerva Molly Weasley— Molly Weasley (Broken)

Obedient to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

Belief in Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

Hate Dark Magic— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

**Blocks**

50% Intelligence— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

25% Magic— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

100% Creature Inheritance— Albus Dumbledore (Broken)

**Potions**

Loyalty to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (Broken)

Loyalty to Light Magic (Broken)

Loyalty to Weasley family (Broken)

  
  


Hadrian briefly glanced over it, ignoring the last bits. He’d had ten times as much compulsions, blocks, and potions in the future, so it wasn’t too big of a deal. It was nice to know they’d all been broken though. He furrowed his brows a bit.

Nothing on here mentioned Ron or Hermione directly, which was the complete opposite of how it had been. Their names had practically been everywhere when he had taken this test in the future, shortly before committing genocide on all the goblins. He definitely needed to figure out what was going on here.

Deal-Maker Demon, and Man-Eater Neko was a bit unexpected. He had known he was part Demon and Neko, but not what type of Demon or Neko. The test he had taken in the future hadn’t been the full test this one was, so a lot of the information had been either abbreviated or not there at all.

It did make sense, though. Deal-Maker’s were notorious for being able to do some truly powerful magic, so them being able to pass as a witch like his mother had fit perfectly. Man-Eater Neko was a bit out there, but he did remember one distinct time in his youth where he had, in fact, eaten a man, so it also wasn’t a huge shock.

“Oh, in a year or so I’ll be celebrating my eleven thousandth birthday! How exciting,” he mused as he noticed the secondary age next to the first one. “I hadn’t realized how close to it I was. Must have missed a few years during that decades-long drug party.”

“Master of… Ma-master of— Death? You’re the Master of Death!?” Ragnok nearly shrieked as he finally came out of his shock. Hadrian winced, folding his ears down at the shrill sound.

“Er, yeah?”

“I-I…” Ragnok suddenly began cursing fluidly in Gobbledygook. Hadrian watched in muted surprise, having not expected quite  _ this _ reaction. “Right,” he cleared his throat after his cursing ended, “I must apologize for my behavior. I had no idea that you were— well, the Master.”

“Sure, sure, whatever. It’s fine,” Hadrian told him in a bit of a daze. The goblins had never been this courteous to him before. If they reacted like  _ this _ perhaps things would have gone differently last time had he simply told the goblins the Mastery he held. It wasn’t like it really mattered though. What if’s were useless.

“Of course, sir. Now, unfortunately, I do need to clarify a few things simply for documentation. If that’s alright?”

“Yeah, so long as it never goes beyond the goblins. I have plans, you see, and if this information got to the public, they’d kinda be ruined. And I’d kinda get a little pissed,” he casually threatened, flexing his wings in emphasis.

“I understand, sir,” Ragnok nodded, only a little pale, “Now, the first thing I need to know is how are you Harry Potter? Harry Potter is a fourteen year old and you are— not. So how are you the same being?”

“Ever heard of Pandora’s Box?”

Ragnok grimaced, “Ah. That. I… didn’t know wizards would ever dare mess with such things, but it appears I was wrong. I’ll simply list it as Time Travel. That actually explains most of what I needed to know, but there is…”

The questions continued for a while, with Hadrian answering them as vaguely as possible. He didn’t mind sharing the information since the goblins seemed terrified enough of his title to not go against him, but that didn’t mean he’d risk being detailed about it.

“Okay, that should be it. The last thing we need to do is your Lordships. Do you wish to claim them now?”

“Yes.” He would need full access to his vaults, titles, and seats simply to prevent Dumbledore from trying to take them. He didn’t have much use of them himself yet, but he imagined that that would probably change later on. It was best to just claim them now rather than waiting.

It was a simple case of putting on the Lordship rings to see if they would accept him. Which, well, that wasn’t too hard. He held up his hand, admiring the rings as they merged into one. It was now a golden ring that was lined with the Potter motto in silver. The stone on top was black with a ghostly silver Deathly Hallows symbol on top.

He brought his hand down to look at Ragnok again. “Actually, there’s one more thing we need to discuss. What side are the goblins on?”

Ragnok paused, taking his time to think over a response. “We… would prefer to stay neutral. None of us want to get involved in wizarding affairs,” he took a deep breath, and then straightened up, doing his best to glare, “Even if  _ you _ want us to.”

Hadrian hummed, tilting his head. “That’s alright. But should you ever be forced to take a side, please make sure it’s mine. I’d hate for something to happen to the goblins… like what happened in my previous timeline.”

He didn’t say anything beyond that, but from Ragnok’s swallowing, it was obvious the goblin knew what he meant. “Of course, Lord…?”

“Call me Lord Peverell. If I’m around others who don’t know of my status, then just use Mister Potter. I don’t want them to find out who I am, after all.”

“Very well, Lord Peverell.”

Business was done quite quickly after that, with pale goblins hurriedly leading his now human form out of the bank. They had clearly been notified of just who he was. Hadrian smirked as he sauntered out of the building.

That had gone so much better than he thought it would. He’d honestly had no idea that the goblins would be so complacent if they knew he was the Master of Death. It was  _ glorious _ .

He walked down the street towards the apparition zone, noticing how various wizards and witches eyed him with lust and disgust. He was very hot if he did say so himself, but most purebloods were probably having heart attacks at his muggle attire.

Well, they’d have to get used to it. He might be set on killing every last muggle on the planet, but that didn’t mean he was giving up everything else they did. He hated muggles themselves, but the fashion, technology, and everything else he really adored. He would get the Wizards and Witches to update to modern one way or another.

Absently, he pulled out his cigarettes, lighting one easily and putting it between his lips. A puff of smoke left him as he hummed. Perhaps it was time to start introducing them to technology. It would definitely take a while to fully transition everything in their society to modern, but technology would be a good place to start.

At least with the tech, they’d be able to see just how advanced the muggles were. He hummed again. Maybe he should start a business? He could start selling phones and iPods and televisions, anything really. 

He also needed them to get over the ‘fact’ that technology supposedly didn’t work with magic. It wasn’t really true. Magic didn’t work with electricity, the thing that ran most electronics and things, but the tech itself wasn’t like that. In the future, Hadrian had actually discovered a way to get magic to run technology in place of electricity. Using that method, using magic nearby didn’t affect it the way it usually does. If anything, it boosted its power, making the tech even better.

Hadrian tilted his head, contemplating. Maybe another visit with the goblins was needed sometime soon. He groaned suddenly, leaning forward to rest his head against a nearby wall. If this was going the way he wanted, then he’d need three separate identities.

Harry Potter, Voldemort’s Consort, and Lord Peverell. Damn, this was already getting so complicated. Hadrian took a deep breath, focusing himself. Okay. How was he going to do this? Obviously, Harry Potter couldn’t be connected to anything untoward, but the other two…

Could he have them both be similar? Voldemort’s Consort and Lord Peverell could be the same person just with different names. One to act in the dark, and the other to act during the day. Of course, only specific people would know that, but if he did that, it’d be less likely for them to focus on the similarities to Harry Potter.

And, really, how long would he keep up with the ‘Light’s Savior’ act? The only reason he currently had was to be in on Dumbledore’s and the Order’s plans. To spy and give them misleading information. It’d certainly be useful, but probably only for until Dumbledore died. He nodded to himself. That’s when he’d quit, and just become himself. When Dumbledore died.

Taking a long inhale of his cigarette, Hadrian flicked the remainder away, and exhaled to get rid of the smoke in his lungs. A slow, mischievous smirk crawled up his face. Since he was already in the Wizarding World... It was about time to secure one of his identities. By the end of the night, he swore he’d be Voldemort’s consort. Whether or not the man wanted it was of no concern to him.

He’d lived for over ten thousand years without his mate, he wasn’t going to go even one more.

With that thought in mind, Hadrian turned sharply on his heel, and apparated to just outside Malfoy Manor. He glanced up at the imposing Manor, grinning widely. A quick look over their wards and he chuckled. If there was one thing he was particularly good at, it was evading wards, and the Malfoy’s didn’t have nearly good enough ones to stand up to him.

Still, it’d be even easier if he was in his animagus form. Though the Malfoy’s wouldn’t sense him, the Dark Lord might, and frankly, Hadrian really wanted to startle the man. And he also didn’t want anyone seeing the real him before he’d worked things out with Tom as well. Within the second, he was an animal.

It was a bit odd. Hadrian’s normal form is a panther, but that only came from his Wizard magic, not his other sides. Due to this, his form still displayed the features he always had. His tail faded to red and ended in a spade, his ears did the same but ended in a point, and leathery wings still sprouted out of his back.

Hadrian shook his fur off, stretching his wings out wide. He took a deep breath, and then paused for a moment. That— that was a lot of people. Were they in the middle of a meeting? A feral grin spread across his muzzle. This was gonna be  _ fun _ .

He folded his wings again, even closer to his back than before, and took off running. He ran directly through the wards, parting them like water without a single ripple. A push of magic opened the front door, allowing him to pass into the Manor without breaking it down.

A Death Eater was right there, probably guarding the entrance, but could do little more than shout in surprise before Hadrian had jumped onto them. The man, for they were definitely male, practically squawked as he fell onto his back, quickly bringing his hands up to protect his face. Hadrian merely jumped again, knocking the air out of the Death Eater as he continued to run down the hallway.

“Hey!” He yelled as soon as he had recovered, quickly scrambling up from the ground. Hadrian didn’t pause for even a second despite the slight shock going through him. He recognized that voice. So it wasn’t a  _ man _ , but a  _ boy _ .

Draco Malfoy tried to chase after him, but a quick flick of his tail sent a tripping jinx at him, sending him back to the floor. By the time he got up again, Hadrian had already disappeared from sight. He let out a hissy huff, this forms version of a chuckle, at the no doubt flustered boy he had left behind.

It didn’t take long to arrive at their meeting point simply because he could follow his nose. It only took a few hallways and a couple more Death Eater encounters before he got to egregiously large double doors. Said Death Eaters came rushing around the corner to stop him, but Hadrian had already put his front paws on the door.

He pushed it wide open, listening to the dramatic hinge squeaking with satisfaction. There was at least a few hundred people in the hall, every one of them complete with a Death Eater mask, and all staring directly at him. The only one without a mask was lounging on a throne at the very end of the hall, but was now sitting up with interested red eyes.

The Dark Lord held a hand up, causing the Death Eaters that had been chasing him to stop and wait. Hadrian practically strutted into the hall, enjoying the attention but mostly focused on his mate. Their eyes never left each other as Hadrian got closer, the Death Eaters instinctually parting to allow him through.

It was only when he was close enough for only Hadrian to hear him that Voldemort spoke. “What are you? No,  _ who _ are you? I’ve never seen an animagus like that,” he murmured quietly, examining Hadrian’s body.

Hadrian froze, eyes widening. He hadn’t expected him to realize what he was. At most, he thought the Dark Lord would assume him to be a rare magical creature. Evidently, the man noticed his shock, and quirked an eyebrow at him. After a moment, he sat down in front of Voldemort’s throne and looked pointedly over his shoulder.

Voldemort followed his gaze to the room full of Death Eaters. He paused consideringly, then narrowed his eyes and snarled, “Dismissed!” All of his minions jerked, and quickly began fleeing out the massive doors. A few of them hesitated, but not for long. Only one of them stayed, but only long enough to throw a threatening glare at Hadrian before leaving.

Bellatrix hesitated again just before the doors, not enough to warrant a reprimand, but definitely enough to be noticeable. As soon as they were alone, Voldemort stood up and walked towards another set of doors. These ones were much smaller and were clearly meant as a side entrance rather than a main one.

He didn’t wait a moment to follow the man, quickly trotting after him. Voldemort led him down many halls, Hadrian absently memorizing the way. Eventually, they reached a certain section of the Malfoy manor that had extra wards on it. He sniffed at them inquisitively, deducing that this must be Voldemort’s personal wing.

Voldemort waved a hand at it, editing the wards slightly, and then continued walking. He assumed the man must have made it so he could enter as well, and followed. The wards let him through with only a little resistance, more like sticky vines than water.

They turned two more corners before they arrived wherever Voldemort had been leading him. He eyed the door curiously, waiting as Voldemort opened it. It revealed a suite. A bedroom was on one side, the one closest to the door, while a living room was on the other.

It was mostly decorated in shades of green, accented with mahogany wood and occasionally some gold or other colors. A fireplace was against the left wall, farther away from the door than the bed was. Soft armchairs were set up in front of it next to a side table and a coffee table. Two other doors were on different sides of the room, presumably leading to a bathroom and closet.

Hadrian purred as he entered the room, eagerly taking in the place where his mate slept. If things went according to plan, he would be spending a lot of time here. Voldemort walked right passed him and to one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. He crossed his legs elegantly and then pointedly glanced over at him.

Mildly surprised by how calm and patient Voldemort was acting, he approached him again. “So who are you? Tell me.” Ah,  _ there _ were the angry demands he had expected. He had clearly waited too long for an answer.

Chortling, which only seemed to make him angrier judging by his scowl, Hadrian took his time sitting down and lazily eyeing him. Just before he could give another demand, he rolled his shoulders, feeling his extra features sink into his skin.

The Dark Lord’s eyes went wide, and he stiffened in his seat. Before he could react farther, Hadrian had already turned back into a human. Well, humanoid at least. In an instant, a burning gaze was on his forehead. He hadn’t bothered to hide his scar or glamour his eyes since he  _ wanted _ him to know who he was.

“P-Potter!” He sputtered, immediately standing up and pointing his wand at him. “What? How are you here?  _ Why _ are you here? Explain!” He nearly snarled, rage and confusion warring for space on his face. Voldemort paused for a moment, taking in his new looks, and then confusion completely took over.

“Hello, Voldie,” he snickered at the growl he received, “I figured you’d have a lot of questions, but let me tell you something that should answer most of them. Well, if you're as intelligent as I remember you being anyway.”

_ “What?”  _ Voldemort snapped, gritting his teeth. Hadrian couldn’t resist laughing again, and quickly rolled on the ground to avoid the cruciatus curse. “Answer me!” He shouted as he sent more curses. Hadrian dodged each one with ease, his amusement growing in turn with his mate’s anger.

Finally, he tackled the man to the ground, pinning him easily with his superior strength. Voldemort struggled in vain, but as he calmed down, his eyes began widening again. “Potter? How the hell are you this strong?” He tugged at his wrists, held down on either side of his head. “I know for a fact that I’m stronger than a fucking  _ werewolf _ , how are  _ you _ stronger than  _ me _ ? What the fuck is going on!?”

“Pandora’s box,” he singsonged, a wide grin on his face. Voldemort blinked for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing, before his entire body jerked beneath him.

“Pandora’s box? I— how did Dumbledore even find that thing? I thought it was lost for eternity!” He spouted in disbelief, shaking his head. His attention abruptly returned to Hadrian, eyes narrowing. “So you’re telling me that this is how you are in the future? How did that happen? As a matter of fact, I still don’t know why you came here of all places.”

Hadrian sighed heavily, sitting up to straddle Voldemort and letting go of his wrists. The Dark Lord, after a small twitch, wisely decided to stay put, hoping for answers. “Yes, this is what I became in the future. I thought it would be relatively obvious, but I didn’t like how the future turned out, so I decided to use this opportunity to  _ change _ it.”

“And you want me to help you?” He inferred, showing some of that intellect from his youth. “What happened that was so bad you’d go dark to change it?”

“Actually, I went dark a long time ago. Definitely quite a while before this summoning in fact. But to answer you, a lot of things. One, I got screwed over by a lot of people, Dumbledore in particular, and I want some serious revenge against the light side. Two, after a while muggles wizened up to our existence and didn’t react favorably, causing almost all magic to go extinct.”

Voldemort paled, but Hadrian wasn’t finished. He leaned down with a smirk, until their faces were inches apart. “Three,” he purred, “I didn’t like killing my mate the first time and would rather not do it a second.”

It took at most a few seconds for him to realize the meaning of that sentence. “ _ We’re _ — but, I— hold on. How can  _ we _ be—? Neither of us have creature inheritance, and as far as I know, that’s the only way—  _ that _ can truly happen.”

“Wrong. I am a creature, actually. Part of  _ two _ creatures, in fact.” Hadrian rolled his shoulders again, feeling his features slip out of his skin. He stretched his wings wide to emphasize his inhuman-ness. Voldemort jolted in surprise, and then jolted again as Hadrian’s tail wrapped itself around his thigh.

“Truthfully,” he admitted, “it’s your fault we’re mates to begin with. I wouldn’t have had one if  _ your soul _ hadn’t been inside of me my entire childhood.” He brushed a meaningful finger across his forehead, smile turning fond as he felt the tiny piece of his mate nestled into his soul.

The body beneath his stiffened. “You’re my  _ horcrux _ ?” Voldemort whispered in horror. Judging by his pallor and the rapid movement of his eyes, he seemed to be replaying all the moments he had almost killed him.

Hadrian gleefully ignored his plight to instead nod and continue speaking. “Yeah, I am. See, my creature side could feel your soul inside of me, but it didn’t know how to recognize it. So it went with the closest thing to it— a mate, the one meant for me. It was like that for so long that even after losing your soul, you were still my mate.”

Voldemort breathed shakily for a moment before swallowing heavily. “So what are you?” He questioned, gaze drifting to the wings on his back and the ears on his head. “I’ve never seen nor heard of anything like this.”

A sharp grin spread across his face. “Well,” he whispered almost huskily, leaning down until he was speaking directly in his ear, “I am a Demon, and a Neko.” The Dark Lord sucked in a sharp breath of air. “More specifically, I’m a Deal-Maker Demon… and a  _ Man-Eater _ Neko.”

He punctuated the last bit by nipping his sharp fangs into Voldemort’s earlobe. Peals of laughter escaped him as Voldemort flinched back and roughly shoved at his shoulders. He let the movement push him backwards, but stayed sitting on his waist. A few heavy breaths and Voldemort regained his composure.

“What does that even mean?”

“I have no idea!” He admitted cheerfully. “I’ve definitely heard of the Deal-Makers power, and Man-Eaters are pretty obvious about what they do, but other than that, no idea. These things are pretty obscure y’know. Kinda hard to find any information about them aside from the basics.”

“...I don’t know why I expected anything else from you, Potter.”

“Hey!” He gasped in mock offense, “You don’t even know who I am anymore! I haven’t been Harry Potter in a long time.”

“A few years can’t change everything about someone,” Voldemort scoffed.

“That’s true. But it’s been a lot longer than that.” He lazily drew his finger across Voldemort’s chest, a smirk on his face. Voldemort ignored the feeling in favor of raising his eyebrow.

“Oh? And how long has it been since you,  _ apparently _ , won the war? Five, Ten years?”

His smirk turned mischievous, and he tilted his head with a hum. “Try over ten thousand.”

Voldemort didn’t react for a long moment before he blinked a few times. “Pardon?” He muttered in a high pitched tone. He shook his head, and then glared at him. “How are you that old? Fuck, even demons and the like only last, what, a thousand years? Why are you so goddamn abnormal about literally everything you do?”

“Calm down, your  _ muggle _ is shining through,” he teased, but continued before Voldemort had a chance to react. “And there is actually a reason for that. I just so happen to be immortal because I’m the Master of Death.”

“Master of  _ Death _ ? From the legend? I thought the Deathly Hallows were just a fairytale!” He groaned loudly, suddenly letting his head fall to thump against the ground. “Fuck, that would’ve been so much better than horcruxes. Dammit.”

Hadrian chuckled at that. “Probably. Too bad, so sad for you.” Voldemort glared at him, but Hadrian only made a considering face as he tilted his head. “Y’know, I could probably extend my whole immortality thing to you if we do it right. Like you said, it’s much better than horcruxes.”

“You could?” He blinked wide eyes at him, then narrowed them down again. “And what would you demand in return?”

“Always thinking like a Slytherin, huh? Honestly, if I’m right about this, then it would only take doing what I wanted to do in the first place.”

“What would that be?”

“Oh, just fully bonding with you. It’s like marriage. Except ten times more intimate.” He stated casually, waving his hand through the air like it wasn’t a big deal. For him, it wasn’t. It was just something that was  _ going to happen _ , one way or another.

“Wait— you want to… marry me?” Voldemort was almost like a bird at that moment, what with how wide his eyes were. His jaw had dropped too, and he truly looked like he had never expected to hear those words. Which, considering how Hadrian had been in his youth, wasn’t actually a surprising reaction.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that shocked,” he mused, “And I did say you are my mate, right? Why wouldn’t I want to?”

“Fucking Merlin’s balls,” Voldemort cussed almost breathlessly, staring up at the ceiling limply. He blinked several times and then his gaze finally returned to Hadrian. “And… if I say ‘no’?”

Hadrian hummed as if in thought, tempering the rage that wanted to course through him. There was no point in getting angry when he  _ knew _ this was likely to be the response he’d get. Voldemort couldn’t truly feel love after all, and he’d long since been resigned to that.

“Well, one, you wouldn’t have my particular brand of immortality, which, might I say, really is  _ millions _ of times better than yours. Two, I’d be much less likely to help you out with your little plans. I have my own you see, and though they are similar, aiding you is not strictly necessary.”

He let his anger turn his eyes a flaming purple and leaned down with a shark-like grin on his face. “Three, I’d be very,  _ very _ angry. I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time, waiting and longing for the day I could be with my mate. You don’t know the yearning I felt, the pain when I realized just who I had killed. You may not have originally been my mate, Voldemort, but you are  _ mine _ now. And I will never let you go.”

It was true. He may have been able to survive his mate’s death because they weren’t truly meant for each other, but that didn’t mean it had been pleasant. As soon as their connection had been cut, there had been this unbelievable anguish, undefinable pain and horror. He certainly got through it, yes, but it had still hurt.

The Dark Lord swallowed heavily, his face pale. He cleared his throat and turned his face away, gritting his teeth. “I don’t think you understand. I  _ cannot _ . You can threaten me all you like, but I will not subject myself to such weakness.”

“Ugh, let me say this in clearer words,” Hadrian growled, roughly grabbing Voldemort’s chin and digging his fingers in as he forced him to look at him. “You do not have to love me, I already know you can’t. I don’t care if you’re not loyal to me, though I hope I’d satisfy you enough that that wouldn’t happen often. Fucking hell, just think of it as a marriage of convenience if it helps.”

Voldemort’s eyebrows furrowed. “If that’s the case, why bother getting married to me in the first place? You’d get nothing out of it!”

“That’s— not true,” he sighed heavily, the anger rushing out of him all of a sudden. He relaxed his grip on his mate’s face, instead cupping his cheek despite the tension beneath his palm. “You wouldn’t understand,” he murmured almost tenderly, “but I’ll try. I’m… Well, I  _ love _ you. I don’t need you to love me, I don’t need you to be loyal, or even really care. I just need you next to me, to know you’re there, to know we’re together, to be close, intimate with each other. That’s all I want. You don’t need to reciprocate much for that, right?”

The man he was straddling looked confused, but Hadrian hadn’t truly expected him to understand. He’d need to know what love was, and what it felt like, and the stupid things it could make someone do to understand. Having been conceived out of a love potion, Voldemort would never be able to feel ‘love’. He could care, he could get angry, sad, upset, depressed, happy, excited,  _ anything _ . Anything except love.

It was one of the main reasons love potions were banned. It didn’t just affect the victim, it also affected any child created when one of the parents was under a love potion. Something during the process got altered, got put into the baby. Truthfully, a love potion isn’t real love. It makes one obsessed, full of adoration, but not real love despite how it might feel. That’s why he knew Voldemort, Tom Marvolo Riddle, couldn’t love. He could feel as intensely as a love potion could make someone feel, but nothing more than that.

“I’m sorry. I told you you wouldn’t understand,” Hadrian smiled, brushing his thumb just under Voldemort’s eye. “You can’t feel love, not now, not ever, and we both know it. Love is the only thing that would let you understand.”

Voldemort scoffed beneath him, glaring again. “I do not need love. I will never need love. But…” he paused, hesitating, “how can… how can you… love me? How do you even know me enough  _ to _ love me?”

“I don’t,” he admitted, his smile turning fond, “I don’t really know you. Not personally, at least. But that’s the thing about being human. Everything you do is irrational. Nothing really makes sense. I suppose, for me, it was knowing your past, feeling kinship to you, combined with the fact that the creature inside of me is always screaming that you’re mine, that I need you, that I want you, that we’re supposed to be together. I just…  _ I love you.” _

Hadrian didn’t even realize he was leaning down until his lips were pressed firmly to the Dark Lord’s. Hands suddenly squeezed his waist, and he only had a moment to think that maybe he had gone into this a little too quickly before he was thrown to the side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, not sorry for the cliffhanger.
> 
> Also, for those curious, the thing about the love potions isn’t really true. It’s just an idea that’s occasionally used by some fic’s, and I decided it would work pretty decently for what I had planned for this story.


End file.
